Why a good food thermometer is ESSENTIAL!

A core part of ensuring food safety, in any establishment that handles food, is ensuring that the food is stored, cooled, heated or cooked to the correct temperature. These safety measures are in place to ensure that the risk of foodborne illness is minimized. Food borne pathogens grow well at certain temperatures and so by ensuring that food is in the temperature danger zone for the least amount of time possible is a critical feature in ensuring food safety. Bacteria grow between 4⁰C and 60⁰C and therefore cold foods should be kept below 4⁰C and hot foods above 60⁰C to prevent bacterial growth in food.

A good food thermometer is central to ensuring that these temperature standards are met. There are many different food thermometers on the market, each with different functions and different features for your kitchen. Choosing food thermometers that are suitable to your particular food establishment is a key component of food safety.

When choosing your food thermometer you must ensure that you choose a thermometer to meet your needs. For example certain food thermometers are intended for use in an oven while others are used to probe the internal temperature of cooked food. Some food thermometers use dials while others use digital technology. In addition to these, some thermometers may have other features that meet particular needs in your kitchen. For example some may have a large dial to read, some may have a very quick reading time or some may be better suited to different food consistencies. Your choice of food thermometer will depend on what it’s needed for in your kitchen or your food establishment.

According to the Public Health agency of Canada “Everyone should practice general food safety precautions at all times”. A core component of food safety is temperature control of food and therefore a good food thermometer is essential in all food establishments.

Therefore choosing a good and appropriate food thermometer requires careful consideration. But one thing is for certain and that is that a food thermometer is essential!